3 types likely to succeed

The doors are open. The Challenge ramp-up has begun. We will do everything in our power (see how) to help you succeed in your 10-Day (not 10K) sprint as a local food eater.

This post is about success factors for the Challenge. Anyone can do the Challenge, of course. Anywhere. In 2014 people from 4 countries participated. The point isn’t growing your own or living where the sun shines 12 months a year. The point is that local – at least some of the time – is a healthy, nutritious, delicious and soul-satisfying way to eat. And local – at least for part of our food supply – can be a more secure and sustainable way to eat. And local may even nudge us towards a more just way to eat because we-the-eaters can monitor if we choose the working conditions for our farmers and advocate on their behalf. More radical, can local actually save you food dollars? We’re going to find out through people like you taking up the Challenge… with gusto.

Three-types of likely Challengers

I predict these 3 types of people will jump on the chance to do this Challenge in the company of other courageous eaters. Then there are 3 other types – at the end of this post – who could rise to this Challenge if they are willing to stretch.

These types are: the curious, the caring and the competency-crew.

The curious will learn. The caring will feel connected. The competency crew will be empowered. And the rest of you, you’ll stretch yourself towards health and integrity. And have a lot of laughs as you stumble around towards a new and better way of eating. Everyone wins. Just by beginning.

Curious

Do you like to learn? Do you question the food rhetoric on all sides? Are you open to new foods? New ideas?

Do you wonder if the global industrial corporate food conglomerates that stock our supermarkets provide the only way to feed the world? If you eat meat, are you willing to discover what it takes to raise it? If you don’t eat meat, are you willing to meet local producers who might rattle your certainties? If you’re a vegan, are you game to discover new sources of the protein in your 100 mile radius? Do your friends look to you as a scout, willing to play if you invite them?

The Challenge will plunge you into learning – which is the ultimate food for curious minds.

Caring

Are you a people person? Are you a nature lover? Are you concerned for the welfare of the web of life? Do you want to feed your kids healthy food? Do you love to cook for your friends? Are you involved in local businesses or local non-profit organizations trying to boost the local economy?

The Challenge will certainly up your game in all these areas.

Do you volunteer for hunger organizations and wish there could be more healthy food in food pantries? Do you want to do the right thing but aren’t sure what one person can do to make a difference? Are you involved in social justice issues? Do you want to live today so that your children’s children’s children live in a healthy world? Are you moved by the plight of people and animals affected by toxins used in agriculture and food processing?

A Local Food Shift gives you first hand experience that will affect how effective you are.

Competency-crew

Do you love to learn new skills? Do complex problems excite you? Would a counter-full of unfamiliar veggies and herbs get you sharpening your knife and inventing combinations? Do you feel like a flabby eater – not body flab but skill flab, just going along with the crowd, knowing there’s a better way? Have you taken on other Challenges, like diet or running or a PhD, because, like the mountain, they were there and they called you? Do you love elegant tools to help you do the job better, and your mouth is watering imagining learning the difference between braising and sautéing? Is something you don’t know how to do a tantalizing invitation? Do you love DIY? Do you love expanding your skills? Does knowing how something works make you feel more empowered and even more secure?

Boy are you going to love the Challenge, from meeting the growers to growing your own herbs to canning food for your 10-Day sprint.

The 3 other types

When I lived and worked with a group of people who took on big projects and did them, we said there were 3 ways any of us got assigned a job. We’d say:

1. “I could never….” The belief something is impossible for you is a big invitation to take it on. Don’t let the walls of fear close in and make you small.

2. “Somebody ought to…” If you believe it’s right but think someone else is going to do it, think again. If you think “local food” is an important value, if you think it’s great that others are eating that way, well, now’s the time to join the ranks of the do-ers.

3. “I want to…” If you find this appealing in any way, whatever your personality, whatever your skills, whatever your circumstance, do it. There is no failure. Only learning.

Which type of eater are you? If you can’t find yourself among any of these 6 types, enjoy your food wherever it comes from. In the end, all of us can up our gratitude game – for any food from anywhere.

Recent Posts

Get the LOCAL FOOD CHALLENGE 2014 E-BOOK

A great way to get started: Take an arm-chair tour of what the Local Food Challenge (LFC) was like for last year’s participants.
Included in membership, this beautifully designed e-book about our pilot year includes basic steps and advice for taking the Challenge, before-and-after data showing how Challengers changed their local food lives, nuggets of wisdom from 2014 participants, inspiring - and sometimes hilarious - anecdotes, background and history of the 10-Day LFC, plus some scrumptious recipes you can use right away. Guaranteed to whet your appetite.